fuck it, sic transit gloria part 2 is going here

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Sic transit Gloria part 2

He ran faster. The soldiers were wearing heavy armour, they dragged behind. He made his way into a stable house. He never liked the strong smell of horses but he had to hide. He heard the sound of steel slicing through air and barely dodged a sword. He brought his scimitar up to block the following strike. Kianush's warrior blood took over, and he instinctively swung until his attacker was on the ground. Kianush had his foot on the man's chest and his sword rose for the kill. He heard a small shout behind him and felt a sharp

sting in his side. He turned quickly to dispatch his attacker.
"NO!" the man on the ground pleaded, stopping Kianush's sword a hair's breadth away from the neck of a boy. "Please, not my son. Do whatever you want to me, but please... he's only just turned eight"
Kianush looked down at the man, then looked at the terrified boy. A lamp went on inside of Kianush's head. Not merely a candle, but a real 40 day and 40 nighter.
"I'll spare your son," he said, grabbing the back of the winged boy's neck and removing the small dagger Embedded in his side. "If you take me to the king."

"They'll have our heads for that." the soldier said as he sat up slowly.

"And I'll have your heads if you don't." Kianush growled as he held his sword up to the boy's throat,

"Which is it? Choose quickly." he snipped.

"Promise not to hurt him, and I'll take you as far as I can." the soldier said reluctantly.

They snuck between buildings as Kianush held the boy's wings to prevent escape. They ducked behind some barrels made of hollowed out tree trunks as three soldiers went by.
"No way anyone would be able to make it this far into Tirazi" one solder said and the others agreed.The further into town they went, the more lax security was. Kianush thought this was very strange indeed. Finally the man stopped at a pair of gates.
"This is as far as we can go sir." the soldier said. Kianush nodded.
"Let's see if they will let you further in anyways shall we?" Kianush said as he pushed the man past the gate. "You first."
Kianush waited a moment as he watched the man through a crack in the gate. Nothing happened, so he went inside. He looked around and smiled. The palace looked just like his.
"Let's go find your king shall we?" he said as he picked the boy up with one arm and walked in.

"Where are all the guards?" Kianush asked as he opened the door to what looked like a throne room.

"They all wanted to fight in my place" came a weak reply from inside of the room. Kianush handed the boy back to the soldier.

"Go home," he said "forget about fighting start a farm or something, teach him something useful" he pushed the two peri out of the room.

Kianush walked further into the room, and saw an empty throne.

"Hello?" he looked around warily seeing nobody. He tensed as a small creature toddled as fast as it could at him and attached itself to his right leg.

"Niki! You're so fast!" a thin, lavishly dressed, pale peri with hair nearly the colour of his golden wings crawled out from behind the throne. He looked at what his daughter was clinging onto, looked up and froze. The smile left the peri's face, and the joy in his eyes was quickly replaced with fear.

"Niki, get away from him this instant." his tone left no room for argument, but still the small girl clung to the deev's leg. Kianush gently picked up the little peri and looked her in the face. Her little wings fluttering happily.

"Is that your daddy?" Kianush asked her.

"Yes I am, please give her back to me." the peri begged. Kianush held up his index finger and tutted.

"Wait your turn to speak, I was asking her." he looked back at the girl "is that your daddy?" she small child nodded. "You love your daddy do you not?" again she nodded.  Kianush walked over to the winged man and handed Niki to him. "Then do what he tells you to do, and be a good girl." He tapped on her nose with the end of a finger and stepped back, swaying slightly.

"What is it you want?" the man clutched his daughter to his chest.

"I seek audience with the king of the peri." Kianush said matter of factly.

"you're speaking to him." he still sounded wary

"I wish to draft a peace treaty... what was your name?"

"Eskandar"
"Eskandar, right well, it is obvious that you yourself do not want to fight, and I'm sure you do not wish for Niki to grow up in a world of warfare. Why are our people fighting anyways?"

"Tradition," Eskandar replied bitterly.

"Quite an unpleasant tradition is it not? Let us end this." Kianush said as he shook his head to clear it.

"Are you alright? You look quite pale."

"Kianush... I am sure I will be fine, just a little dizzy" Kianush said quietly
"Huh?... oh your name... Kianush. You are the deev king, we're practically cousins, let me get some food for us." Eskandar rambled then clapped his hands loudly.
"I say for now we call a cease fire." Kianush said.
"Grand idea cousin, I shall send my fastest djinn to inform my generals, do you have one with you or would you like to borrow one of mine?"

"I'm afraid my generals wouldn't believe a blue djinn, I highly doubt that you have any red ones lying about. I will use mine." Kianush said as he pulled a small jar from a pouch under his chainmail. He tapped on the jar and a red puff of smoke glided out. It floated in front of Kianush momentarily before it solidified into the shape of a man.
"Whaddaya want?" the djinn grumbled, "my lord, are you alright? you look terrible" he asked Kianush.

"I'm fine, it is imperative that you tell Kourosh that I order a cease fire." Kianush wavered on his feet.

the djinn went to steady the deev. "Go Ifrit, I'll be fine, deliver my message, then return immediately."

The djinn bowed and flew off in a puff of smoke shortly followed by Eskandar's blue djinn.

"At least have a seat." Eskandar said, becoming worried at how pale the deev was becoming. "I'm calling the healer, we can talk when you're not dying."  Eskandar pulled a rope and a large gong sounded. A small man in a long coat with a bag rushed in and headed straight for the king.

"Is there something wrong with the princess your majesty?" he sounded out of breath.

"No Parviz, my guest isn't feeling well." Eskandar pointed at Kianush.

"But my lord, it's a deev." he whined.

"And it can hear you..." Kianush said sardonically. It was becoming difficult to stay awake.

"Help him." Eskandar said softly. "The war will never end if he dies."
Parviz sighed and opened his bag. Kianush finally sat down. He looked at the carpet where he had been standing and grimaced.

"I'm terribly sorry Eskandar, I've bled all over your rug. I'll have a replacement made for you as soon as I get home." Kianush mumbled, then promptly passed out.

Kianush's eyes shot open as he growled in pain. He was on his stomach, his chainmail lay on the floor next to him. He instinctively reached for his sword which was absent.

"Sleeping would be unadvisable for now, which is most of the reason why I chose not to anesthetize you, now cease your struggling."  Parviz grumbled while pulling a needle through the deev's skin. Kianush bit his leather arm guard and whimpered.

"Any farther over, and there would have been nothing I could do for you but point and laugh" Parviz said in a sing song voice as he tied the knot on another stitch. Kianush whimpered again "for a warmonger, you sure are bad at handling pain."

"I generally do not get injured Parviz, certainly not bad enough.... graagh to need stitches." he looked up to see Eskandar covering Niki's eyes and looking a slight green colour.
"We may as well ... start on a peace treaty, I think" he paused to bite his arm brace again, "he may be a while." Kianush said quickly.
"yes... right" Eskandar said uncomfortably.

Negotiations went by, occasionally interrupted by Parviz telling Kianush to stop moving or to make the deev sit up so he could bandage him.

                The two kings had come to an agreement and to strengthen the treaty, Mirza and Niki were arranged to be married when they were older. They signed a quickly drafted treaty, and had a glass of tea

"Salomati" Eskandar raised his glass.

"to future peace and prosperity" Kianush clinked his glass against his new ally's, then took a sip of the aromatic rust coloured liquid. Kianush called out his djinn and told him to inform Kourosh that the war had ended and that everyone must return home.
"it is late, will you be staying?" Eskandar asked the deev king.

"I told my wife that I would meet with her, I cannot stay, but I will return with Mirza one day soon." Kianush promised.

"very well, let me at least lend you a horse." the peri king fluttered his wings "I would hate for you to suffer at the hand of your wife"

"well, you know how women can be..." Kianush laughed then scratched his head.
"the only woman in my life right now is Niki... we lost her mother shortly after Niki was born."
"I had no idea, I'm sorry" Kianush rested a hand on Eskandar's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, not your fault," he perked up quite quickly "a horse! We must get you a horse! Get you home to see your family!" the peri rubbed his hands together.
Kianush got a horse but soon learned an important lesson; if you don't want to pop your stitches, don't ride your horse quickly. Kianush travelled home in the dark barely faster than he could walk. It was one of the few horses that weren't currently requisitioned for battle he quickly found out why when it decided it didn't want to go any further.

The soldiers bowed at the queen and prince as they passed her on Astara Bridge. She sat watching on a blanket under a nearby tree. Kourosh walked up to her and got down on one knee.



"Your highness, his majesty has sent a message that a peace treaty has been drawn up, but I have not heard from him since. I shall keep you informed" he promptly stood up and walked back to the palace.The queen listened to the soldiers, they spoke of a cataphract being shot off of his horse and dragging himself away to die. Mina shook her head. That wasn't Kian, he would never leave them. She hardly noticed when Arash and Fardin had informed her that they lost track of the king. Her only response was a dull "oh". Mirza had crawled into his mother's lap and patted her on the cheek.

"maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" he said. Which unfortunately, Mina had discovered did not mean maman. It could have been a whole myriad of things: 'I'm hungry', 'change me! It's hot and I stink' or in this case, 'Just be patient mother, I'm sure father will return soon.' Mina didn't quite understand. It was getting late. She didn't mind but Mirza would get sick if they stayed out much longer. Jinnestan didn't stay warm for long after the sun had gone down.



Kianush, who was currently on foot, dragging the unwilling horse behind him, decided that if he didn't rest for the night, he would just pass out in the middle of the road. It was rare that he ever spent a night without Mina. He hated it but tonight he had bigger worries. Not wolves or wildcats. Animals knew better than to try and eat a deev. Humans on the other hand didn't have that survival instinct. Right now, he just didn't care. Sleep called to him. He tied the horse to a tree and sat with his back at the trunk. He woke to a rustling noise. Not the sound of the horse kicking at the bushes, this was unnatural. There was a stench, human. The humans from outside of the cities neglected to bathe. especially if they lived in caves as bandits seemed to do. He didn't expect much from creatures that were barely a step away from monkeys.

"It is a worthless horse." Kianush finally spoke as he looked up. "You will just track me down in order to bring it back." he told one of the hairy, unwashed baboon men.
"He's a soldier Kazeem, you know what that means?" the taller man asked. Kianush noticed that they were threw their names around freely, they were either killers or idiots. They reeked of blood

"Uhhh I finally get trousers?" the short man concluded dumbly. He was short as he was wide. It was all muscle.

"That too. But soldiers have money." the tall man said as he pulled out a dagger. Kianush stood with some effort. His side was sore and he was still tired. He was usually sluggish when he woke up. He was most definitely not in top form otherwise he wouldn't question his ability to take on the two bandits.

"if this were my horse, I would tell you to take it and go, but it is not. I do not want to fight you."

Kianush's voice not coming out as strong as he had hoped. Perhaps he should have asked Eskandar for an armed escort. Too late now. The deev reached for his sword. It wasn't there.
"Looking for something?" the taller bandit swung Kianush's scimitar from his finger. "This'll be a nice keeper, I aint seen one like it before." Kianush patted himself down. He left his bow and arrows in the stables or when he was running. He wasn't sure. It wouldn't have done him much good here in any case.

He still had a dagger in his boot. That was better than nothing.

"You can either return my things or I can dispatch you and your friend" Kianush said as he pulled the dagger from his boot.
"Hey Giv, he's got a knife" Kazeem said with a smirk that said he wasn't intimidated. Before he knew what happened, Kianush was behind Kazeem with the dagger to his throat.
"Put my sword down and leave or your friend dies" Kianush said authoritavely. A moment later, Giv lunged and  Kianush felt a sting in his stomach.  His own sword went all the way through the large man in front of him and then some. Not far enough to pierce an organ, but enough to make him bleed. Giv smirked at Kianush.

"You think I care about Kazeem?" he laughed. "He was just in the way, always wanting his half-" Giv stopped midsentence when he was hit in the face with something red and wet. Kazeem spit in Giv's eye. Giv tried to pull the sword out of the large man's stomach but Kazeem held his wrist. Kianush went around Kazeem and stabbed Giv in the neck. He let out a gurgled choking noise before collapsing shortly followed by Kareem's body. Kianush rolled Kazeem onto his back and removed the sword from his stomach wiping the blood off onto the tall man's clothes.
"I thank you Kazeem for saving my father's sword" Kianush said as he stumbled home. The stupid horse ran away as quickly as it could.

Mina got up at dawn, grabbed Mirza and a blanket, then went to sit under the tree again. several hours later, Mina was approached by Arash who kneeled before her.

"Still no word my lady." he said with a somber face.

"I will wait here" the queen said

"Very well" Arash said "I will send some food out for you and the prince" he stood to walk away. He stopped. "A horse?" he asked nobody in particular. Mina stood up looking hopeful. The horse slowed and trotted over the bridge as if it knew where it was going. Arash caught its reigns and it stopped. Mina gasped when she saw Kianush's armour tied to the saddle with his chainmail hanging out of the saddlebag. Mina grabbed the chainmail and gaped at the hole in the side and the rust coloured blood stuck to the metal.
"Maybe it's not his blood." she said hopefully, "send out a search party. I'm sure he's alive" Mina said. Arash bowed and left with the horse.
Mina wrung her hands and paced while looking at the road where Kianush promised he would come from silently pleading to anyone who would listen that he would be alright.

Kianush stumbled on, driven forward by the desire to see his family again. He fell into some tall weeds. The ground rumbled and he finally stood up again fighting the temptation to sleep right there. He thought the rumbling sounded like horses. He was really losing his ability to think straight. He was almost home. That was all that mattered. Mina. Mirza. Kianush was almost there. Just around the bend was the bridge. He was late. As soon as he was patched up, he would spend all of his time apologising for that. He was using his sword for a crutch. Standing up on his own was becoming quite a chore. The bridge was just up ahead. Mina would chide him for nearly getting himself killed. He could

see the bridge. He could see Mina. He smiled and stumbled faster.

Arash had just left again. His face was grave as he handed Mina Kianush's bloody dagger.

"They are still looking for a body, but I fear the wolves took him. All they found was cloth." Mina closed her eyes tightly.
"leave me" she ground out.

"I will return soon your majesty." he said.
He left and she fell to her knees. Sobs wracked her tiny frame. Mina threw the dagger down and stood up. She walked to the edge of the bridge and looked down. It wasn't a long drop into the river but if you fell, the current would certainly take you under. They always got yelled at as children for playing here. they'd never find her. just like kian. Gone forever. Mina bent over the railing and lifted her feet.


This is where Kianush came in.

"MINAAAAAAAAAAA" he ran as fast as he could to the bridge, reaching down just in time to brush their fingers against each other. She looked up at him, smiled softly, then closed her eyes. There wasn't a way down. He couldn't get to her. He felt as useless as he fell to his knees and screamed his heart out. He looked down at the river from the bridge and stood with the same determined face Mina had.
"BABA" a tiny voice screamed. Mirza had a better grasp on the situation than one would think. "Baba"

He said again. Kianush turned to see the prince sitting up on the blanket under the tree.
"Mirza. I'm so sorry. I almost left you alone." he hugged the small boy to his chest.





A month later, Kianush was carrying Mirza to bed when he heard his generals arguing.

"Your plan failed Arash, she's out of the way but he seems even less inclined to start another war." The rough voice of Fardin uttered quietly.

"Maybe he just needs time... or a push" Arash replied

Kianush turned with a snarl and put the dozing child in his room. He sent a message inviting Eskandar and his daughter to Jinnestan, he needed to talk to someone.
"Ifrit," Kianush stopped the djinn, "tell him to bring his best guards. I no longer hold trust in our generals."

Kianush paced in his room. He got angrier with every turn, and he was wearing small circles into his rug. He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear Kourosh come in.

"Getting exercise your majesty?" his head general asked.

Kourosh didn't even see Kianush move. He was pinned to the wall, his throat squeezed tightly.

"Did you know?" Kianush asked quietly. Kourosh looked terrified but shook his head. "They had planned to get my wife out of the way to make me want to fight again. They tell you everything and you say you didn't know?" Kourosh nodded turning a slight bluish colour. "Is there anything you do know about this?" he nodded again. Kianush released the older man's throat. He bent over taking large gasps of air. Kianush impatiently crossed his arms.

"All they told me was that you were getting soft, and the queen was the cause of it. That is all I heard." he said weakly. "I didn't know that they had planned this"

"Get out of my sight Kourosh." Kianush snarled.



He would wait for Eskandar to arrive and think about what he should do until then. He stormed out of his room and went to his archery range. He did his best thinking here. He pulled one of his many bows from the display and made sure the string was on correctly. There were always arrows ready for him. He had everything he could ever wish for he thought bitterly. He let the arrow fly and it didn't even hit the target. He could barely see it. He wiped his face. When did he start crying? He notched another arrow, sniffled then let it fly. It hit the next target over. He notched another and let it go, then another, and another. The last one hit dead center.

"Your majesty" Kianush turned with an arrow pointed at a servant.
Kianush dropped the bow and arrow.
"You wanted to know when your guest had arrived" the servant said shakily.
"Thank you, and I didn't mean to scare you... I suggest changing your clothes." Kianush said softly noticing an acrid stench appearing around the servant.

                Kianush greeted his friend with a hearty pat on the back. Eskandar presented him with a bottle of wine.

"You look awful cousin. Talk to me." Eskandar sat as Kianush motioned for a servant to bring a pair of glasses for the wine. Kianush took a sip of the sweet drink and looked at the peri king.
"I want you to take Mirza. Tomorrow I will announce to my people that he is going to go with you to strengthen the bond between our children, they will ooh and aww at how cute that sounds, and he won't see what I have to do tomorrow night."
Eskandar raised a finely groomed eyebrow. "And what is it you have to do tomorrow night?"
Kianush grinned evilly. "If I told you, then you would try to stop me my friend." he finished his wine, "I need my revenge, and if I don't survive, I would still like to make sure that my son and my kingdom are in good hands." Eskandar nodded sadly.  He could see the look of resignation in his friend's eyes.
"I will do it for Mirza, and to maintain peace between us, though I still believe there should be another way."

The next morning Kianush stood before his people who marvelled upon the two kings and their children.

"My fine people, in order to maintain peace for future generations, Eskandar and I have decided that our children shall wed. In order for this bond to be happy and successful, I am sending Mirza to stay in Paristan." the crowd made a range of noises between awws and confused murmuring. "I know that you will miss him, and so will I, but remember this my good people. This is for the benefit of our future."

Kianush and Eskandar left the balcony to the hopeful cheers of the deev kingdom.

"That certainly was a short speech." Eskandar said to Kianush.
"Any longer than five minutes, and they stop listening." Kianush replied lightly. "Before I send you off with my son, we shall have whatever food you like, we have the best chefs in the world you know."
"I think you should eat a full meal in my palace, you will see that we, peri have the best chefs in the world. Your food has no aroma. Food is all about aroma, dear cousin." Wary of Kianush's changed countenance
"I beg to differ, it is all about flavour." they continued arguing about food until their supper arrived. The servants had a light bounce in their step as they served the two kings their food. Kianush's joviality was contagious. Eskandar thought it was a very convincing front. Kianush got this thoughtful look on his face just as dinner was ending and called Kourosh to the dining room.
"Kourosh, my loyal general. I wish for you to accompany my son to Paristan. You will learn much about their ways, and who knows, maybe we can find you a wife finally, don't you think so Eskandar?"

Eskandar nodded quickly.
"My place is by your side sire." Kourosh said also noting the change in the king's demeanour.

"And you have served me well, but I ask that you at least make sure that Mirza Niki and  Eskandar get to Paristan safely." Kourosh nodded reluctantly. He had known Kianush since before he was Mirza's age. He hoped to Zoroaster that Kianush wouldn't kill himself with whatever he had up his sleeve.

Kianush waved everyone off with a pleasant smile that, Eskandar noticed, didn't reach his eyes, then he called a meeting with his remaining generals.



"Where is Kourosh?" Arash asked. "He is uncharacteristically late." Fardin agreed.

"He's probably half way to Paristan by now," Kianush hopped onto the table in between his two generals, "But that's not why I called you here today." Kianush squatted like a frog and looked

mischievously between the two generals.

"Why did you call us sire?" Fardin asked. Kianush kicked Fardin in the face. Arash stood up and backed away from the king. Fardin fell backwards in his chair as Kianush laughed.

"What are you doing sire? Have you gone mad? What rubbish has the peri king put into your head?"  Arash babbled in a panic.

"I'm going to kill you. Yes, quite mad. And leave Eskandar out of this." Kianush counted the answers on his fingers just before he lunged at Arash. "I thought you wanted me to fight." Kianush said flippantly.

"That's why you got my wife out of the way wasn't it?" he shouted as he tried rending the young general's face from his skull with his claws. Fardin opened his eyes. Kianush was standing over him, his hands on his knees. "Good morning" Kianush brought a knee to his solar plexus "good night" he laughed at his own witty line. Arash tried sneaking out the door, barely able to see through all of the blood. "Where are you going Arash? didn't you think my joke was funny?" Kianush mocked.

"Please sire, stop." Arash begged.

"But I don't feel better yet" Kianush sounded disappointed. "Where's your fight? Shouldn't you... I dunno, try defending yourself? Why did I even make you a general in the first place?" Kianush pulled Arash to his feet then sat down.  He looked at the table and covered his face with his hands.

"Why hadn't I seen it before?" he said to Arash. "You thought that if I ended the war, you would be out of a job... we couldn't have that, so we kept fighting a country that didn't want to fight us. Then Mina pointed out that we didn't need to fight. And ... you have never been so quiet." Kianush turned to see the meeting room door open. Kianush started counting to one hundred. He sat in the chair smirking then hopped onto his feet and looked for his general. He followed a trail of blood up familiar stairs and right to the oracle's door. The door was covered in blood. Kianush raised a blood covered hand and knocked politely before throwing the door open and storming in and attacking Arash, pulling his arm off as easily as if he was plucking flower petals.

"I am sorry child," he heard from behind him. He turned, his bloodlust still urging him on. The oracle blew a handful of powder into Kianush's face. He looked at her, confused and sad before his eyes rolled back and he hit the stone floor with a dull thud.
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